But he would not say how many tablets were being sold.

An estimated 17 million tablets - from Apple and others - were sold in 2010, and that number is likely to keep growing.

Each tablet was sold on the street for $6 or $7, they said.

By the summer of 2003, cuneiform tablets, among the oldest examples of writing, were being sold on e-Bay.

To add to the tolerance, it was recently estimated that on an average weekend in Britain, some three million tablets of ecstasy are sold.

The tablets were sold nationwide beginning in August.

Around five million tablets will be sold to people who already own one in 2012, generating up to £1.3 billion in revenue for technology businesses.

Typically, the generic tablets are sold in 50 mg tablets.

Officials estimate that 4.5 million tablets of Mandrax were sold in this country last year, for between $8 and $10 a tablet.